How to Start a WordPress Blog on Bluehost in 2018

Escape the 9-5 and Start a WordPress Blog on Bluehost That Pays You to Live the Life You Want

Work from anywhere, make your own hours, and get paid even as you spend time with friends and family.

Congratulations on deciding to start a WordPress blog on Bluehost!

Today, you will learn how to:

• Register your blog name (domain)
• Configure Bluehost
• Install WordPress
• Add a theme
• Write your first blog post
• Create your pages and menu
• Publish and view your live WordPress site!

Why Start a WordPress Blog on Bluehost?

Starting a blog on WordPress was the BEST decision I ever made.

I discovered how to turn a fledgling blog into an income stream, and in the process, change my life.

I was tired of the way my life was going:

The daily commute, working to exhaustion, no time for friends or family, and constantly feeling drained.

But in just 6 months, blogging allowed me to quit my 9-5 job and earn a full-time income having fun.

(Read my Income Reports here)

But when I started, I knew nothing about blogging.

In fact, I can safely admit that I’m a bit of a technophobe!

However, the decision to start a WordPress blog on Bluehost was quicker and easier than I’d ever imagined.

And I can honestly say, it’s completely changed my life for the better.

Ready to Change Your Life and Start a WordPress Blog on Bluehost?

Today, I want to show you how to start a WordPress blog on Bluehost.

• You don’t need to be tech savvy or know how to code.

• You don’t have to be a gifted writer or even an expert in your niche.

• Your age is not a barrier, and it costs just a few dollars a month.

Financially speaking, there’s very little downside.

Yet the upside can be huge and ANYONE can make money blogging.

Many bloggers make thousands a month.  Hell, some earn hundreds of thousands a month.

But above all…

Blogging is Freedom

It’s the gift of living the life of your dreams and the luxury of enjoying the lifestyle *you* desire.

With a laptop and internet connection, you can blog from anywhere in the world.

No more daily commutes.

No more unappreciative boss.

Get paid to do the work you love, and wake up each morning excited for the day ahead.

I have blogged in the Balkan mountains and Mediterranean beaches.  Life has never been so good.

Click here to start a WordPress blog on Bluehost and then follow the simple step-by-step guide below.  (Pssst! If you use my special affiliate links, you’ll get a 50% discount and receive the special price of $3.95/Month plus a FREE domain name!)

It’s Not Only the Financial Perks That You’ll Love When You Start a Blog on Bluehost.

You’ll also gain greater confidence and self-respect.

Why?

Because when you start a WordPress blog on Bluehost, you’ll be helping others and adding value to their lives.

Never has there been a better opportunity to earn a living AND to make a difference to other people’s lives.  All the while doing something you love!

When I created a blog on Bluehost, however, I was totally clueless!

Stumbling around in the dark using a ready, fire, aim strategy of trial and error.

So this ‘How to Start a WordPress Blog Guide’ is dedicated to those of you, who, like me, started with just dreams and hopes.

And in writing these instructions, I wanted to make sure that the technical side is no obstacle for you to achieve your dreams.

This is the WordPress blogging guide that I wish I’d had when I first started.

Email Support

Furthermore, if you do run into any problems, or have any questions in general, please contact me.

I’d love to connect, and I’ll be delighted to help.

Why Start a WordPress Blog on Bluehost?

One of the biggest mistakes beginners make is choosing the wrong blogging platform. 

And whilst there are many free blog hostings available such as Blogger.com, 95% of serious bloggers use WordPress.org (including myself).

Why?

Because WordPress gives you the greatest freedom and control over your blog than any other platform.

What’s more, you can endlessly customize your site with WordPress ‘plugins’.

These are cool bits of software to increase the functionality of your site such as adding sign-up forms and shopping carts.

Most importantly, when you start making money from your WordPress blog and earning passive income, then paying for your hosting is ESSENTIAL.

Most brands view free platforms such as Blogger.com with suspicion.

Therefore, it can be incredibly difficult to ‘monetize’ (make money from) your site. 

Only professional platforms truly succeed in this respect…and Bluehost leads the pack.

Other Reasons to Choose Self-Hosting With Bluehost

You will have an ugly long domain name and URL with .blogspot in it.

You will not own any of your content!

Choosing Bluehost to start a WordPress blog is extremely cheap AND you get a FREE ‘domain’ (the name you choose for your blog).

**Note: They also offer a 30-day money back guarantee in case you change your mind.

Bluehost is, therefore, one of the top web hosting companies.

In fact, it’s one of the officially recommended hosts by WordPress.

• Bluehost design and build their servers to run WordPress like a dream.
• It’s easy to use and ANYONE can start a WordPress blog with my step-by-step guide.
• You get a FREE domain name – helping *you* avoid initial and recurring domain fees.
• Start your blog immediately with a ‘one-click install’. Bluehost makes it all so easy.
• WordPress through Bluehost is also FREE.
• Your blog will be self-hosted giving you professional credentials with your readers and affiliate companies (those which pay you a commission when readers click your links).
• 24/7 WordPress support from friendly, expert staff. You can phone them direct and they’re always happy to talk.  Bluehost really look after their customers (I used Bluehost support staff extensively to help set up my blog.  I could not recommend them highly enough to a beginner blogger).
• Start small; finish big. Upgrade to more powerful options as your WordPress blog becomes increasingly profitable.
• Bluehost and WordPress have partnered since 2005, creating the perfect hosting platform for an income-producing blog.
• Host multiple domains – no need to pay for more hosting when you’re ready to start another blog or website.
• 30-day money back guarantee so there’s no risk if you change your mind.

All these reasons, and more, is why it’s best to start a WordPress blog on Bluehost.

What is a Web Host?

A web host such as Bluehost, is simply a company that stores your website on special computers and serves up your web pages to your visitors.

In other words, you won’t host your website on your own personal computer or laptop.

As a web hosting company is responsible for all your blog posts, pages and content, it’s critical to choose a reliable and experienced host.

What is WordPress?

WordPress is the creation tool on which you write all your blog posts, upload your images, build your links and design your pages.

Step-by-Step Instructions.

Excited?  You should be! Because in just 15– 30 minutes, you’ll be able to start a WordPress blog on Bluehost!

How to Start a WordPress Blog on Bluehost.

Before, we start, grab your credit or debit card for your Bluehost account.

1. Select Your Hosting Plan.

First, open Bluehost in a new window so you can follow along.

Next, click on the green ‘get started now’ button.

You’ll now be presented with a screen like this:

Select the ‘Basic’ plan.

It’s not only the cheapest, but it’s most likely all you’ll need right now.

2. Register Your Domain Name.

Your domain name is the name you decide to call your blog.

For example Amazon.com or Xukkhini.com.

When you register your domain name, this means you enjoy all ownership rights and no-one else can, therefore, use that name for their blog or website!

It can be a tricky process.  After all, this is your baby and you want it to have a great name.

Here are a few tips to get you started:

• Try and use a .com (rather than .org or .biz).  It’s more professional.
• Keep it easy to spell and pronounce.
• Avoid very long domains (2 or 3 syllables are great).
• Don’t use hyphens or numbers.
• It doesn’t have to be ‘keyword specific’ e.g. flat-stomach-exercises.com or even related to your niche (subject) e.g. ‘Amazon.com’.  And what on earth does Xukkhini mean?!?

Use the Domain Name Checker below to get started!

Can’t decide yet?

Don’t panic!

You can always sign up now and choose your FREE domain later.

Simply click on “Choose Later!” at the bottom of the screen.

3. **Note: You can skip this step if you purchase your domain directly through Bluehost.

If you’ve already bought a domain e.g. through Go Daddy, then you’ll need to link your domain to your Bluehost account.

You can visit Go Daddy’s support page here to transfer your domain.

If you have difficulty, contact their 24/7 support team for assistance.

Once, you’ve completed this step, you’ll need to add your Go Daddy domain as an addon domain to your Bluehost account.

Simply click on ‘Domains’ in the main nav bar, then ‘Assign’ in the sub-menu and follow the instructions.

Again, if you get stuck, contact Bluehost’s friendly support staff and they’ll walk you through.

Alternatively, give Bluehost a call and they’ll provide you with all the information you need to transfer your domain.

4. Enter all Your Account and Contact Information.

5. Scroll Down Below to the ‘Package Information’ Section.

Select the 36-month plan for the BEST pricing and the cheapest monthly rate.

It’s important to note that you’ll be billed for the full 36 months upfront.

But this is one of the reasons why Bluehost can offer such low monthly costs.  Signing up for 36 months is also an indication of your commitment.

And I guarantee, that if you put in the work, you’ll be AMAZED at what you can achieve in a very short space of time.

And remember, you always have the money-back guarantee to fall back on in case you change your mind.

You’ll also notice that there are some optional extras and some of these may be checked.

If you don’t want any of these simply uncheck the boxes.  *You can always add these options at a later date*.

I use the ‘Domain Privacy Protection’, which prevents your personal details such as name and address being harvested by marketers.

I’d also recommend using a backup system.  You can use Bluehost’s ‘Site Backup Pro’, which automatically makes a daily back-up of your site.

I have heard horror stories of bloggers losing their entire sites by not backing them up.

6. Next, Enter Your Billing Information, Agree to Bluehost’s ‘Terms of Service’ and Click ‘Submit’.

7. You’ll Now be Offered More Options.

Again, I wouldn’t bother with these, and you can always return later to add these on if you want.

8. Congratulations! You’re Now a Member of Bluehost.

You now need to enter a password.

Make sure it’s secure as this information is very important!

9. Login to Bluehost and Install WordPress.

Next, click on the blue ‘login’ button.

Bluehost will now ask you to pick a theme.

A theme allows you to control the look and feel of your blog, (make it pretty), without any coding experience.

It determines your blog’s background color, fonts and navigation bar.

You can change the theme later or scroll to the bottom and skip this step.

Once you select your theme, or skip this step, Bluehost will begin setting up WordPress for you!

Click on ‘Start Building’ and on the next screen you can choose ‘Business’ or’ Personal’ – this is totally up to you.

You are now ready to build your very own WordPress blog!

10. Welcome Email

Bluehost will send you a welcome email through which you can also access your Bluehost account and login to WordPress.

Make sure that you save this welcome email as it contains important account information!

Click the green ‘Get Started’ button in your welcome email and then the blue ‘Log in to WordPress’ button on your welcome page.

11. The WordPress Dashboard.

You’re now seeing the WordPress dashboard!

When you first access the dashboard, it can seem a little daunting.

But it’s really very simple to learn!

Before we look at some general tips on how to navigate the WordPress dashboard, let’s customize your site’s appearance.

This is one of the most exciting parts of creating your WordPress blog!

There are thousands of themes to choose from.  Some are free, whilst others are paid.

To experiment using a different theme, click on Appearance > Themes > WordPress.org Themes

On the next screen, you can search from over 5,000 free WordPress themes!

When you’ve found a theme you like, hover your mouse over it, click the ‘Install’ button which will then change to ‘Activate’ which you must click to complete your theme selection.

12. Genesis Framework.

As an alternative to a free WordPress theme, you can use what’s known as the Genesis framework.

The Genesis framework uses ‘child themes’, but instead of making any changes to the framework, all customizations are made to the child theme.

What essentially does all this mean?

Genesis can do ANYTHING!

You can add a widget to the bottom of each blog post.  Add a slider to your homepage.  Choose a different sidebar layout for different pages and posts.

In fact, anything can be changed, moved, deleted or altered as you see fit!

For these reasons, many successful bloggers use and recommend Genesis.  It’s what I use and I highly recommend it if you’re serious about blogging.

If you decide to purchase the Genesis framework, you’ll need to invest in a child theme.

Head on over to Studio Press, the Genesis Marketplace to find the design that’s right for you.

The child theme I use is Foodie Pro.

13. Avada, Enfold and X-Theme.

If you feel that Genesis may be a little too powerful for your needs, you can choose a middle of the road option – a ‘Super Theme’ if you like.

Themes such as Avada, Enfold and X-Theme are more user-friendly than Genesis, but give you more functionality and control than a free WordPress theme.

These powerful and multipurpose WordPress themes can be used to create any type of website.

Between them, they are the most popular themes on ThemeForest – by far the largest WordPress theme marketplace on the internet.

Before I made the switch to Genesis, I used the Enfold theme which I found to be very intuitive and easy to use as a new blogger.

The support staff are SO helpful and very understanding of newbie bloggers.

Furthermore, you can Google any issue and almost always hit upon the answer from previous support tickets.  Simply tag on the words ‘Enfold Theme’ to your Google search, e.g. ‘How can I hide ‘Add to Cart’ button’.

**Important: Make sure you download the “WordPress files” onto your computer.

This will download to a zip file.  From there, simply upload the zip file in your WordPress dashboard by clicking on Appearance > Themes and then hitting the Upload button (see below for more info on the WordPress dashboard)

14. How to Create Pages on WordPress

Pages are not the same as posts.

Your pages are static and can be displayed in the sidebar or along your top menu.

Typical examples would be ‘Home’, ‘About’ and ‘Contact’.

First, click on Pages.

You’ll notice that WordPress has already added several popular pages (Blog, Contact Us, Home Page).

Let’s create an ‘About’ page, so you can tell the world who you are!

First, click on ‘Pages’ then ‘Add New’.

Where it says, ‘Enter title here’, type in the page title, ‘About’.

Underneath, you’ll see an editor area where you can tell your readers all about yourself.

Once you’re done, click on the blue ‘Publish’ button on the right.

We’ll come back to this in a moment to create our menu, but first…

15. How to Create Your First Blog Post.

Posts differ from pages in that they are reverse chronological entries that automatically feed into your Blog page.

Just like when you created your first Page, click ‘Posts’ and then ‘Add New’.

The ‘Hello world!’ post is dummy content which you can delete by checking the box and clicking ‘Trash’.

When you’re finished writing click the ‘Publish’ button to publish your first blog post to the world!

16. Adding Your Menu.

This is the last step of today’s tutorial!

I’m including it, as I found this step a little confusing when I began using WordPress.

Once we’ve finished, I’ll leave you alone to tinker with your new WordPress Blog.

First, click on Appearance > Menus, and then select the ‘Manage Locations’ tab.

Next, click on the ‘Sect a Menu’ drop down and click ‘Menu 1’ and then ‘Save Changes’

Now select the ‘Edit Menus’ tab to the left of ‘Manage Locations’.  Then, check the ‘About’ box and click the ‘Add to Menu’ button to add this to your ‘Menu Structure‘ to the right.

Lastly, click the blue ‘Save Menu’ button to the far right of the dashboard.

17. Viewing Your Site.

Time for the really exciting part!

Hover your mouse over ‘Welcome’ in the top left corner of your dashboard and click ‘Visit Site’.

Once loaded, you’ll see your home page as well as the new ‘About’ page you just created.

Now click on the ‘Blog’ page and view the blog post you just published!

18. Adding Images to Your Blog

Don’t forget to add images to your blog (an absolute MUST!).

Some popular free and paid resources are: Unsplash (free), Shutterstock (paid, and my personal choice), iStock (paid) and Adobe Stock (paid).

I also use Canva and PicMonkey to edit my images and custom design all my pins for Pinterest.

19. How to Grow Your Email List

Lastly, if you want to grow subscribers and send emails, I highly recommend Convertkit.

Convertkit is the industry leaders when it comes to building your email list.

Easy-to-follow tutorials make setting up your account a breeze.

You’ll also learn how to embed subscription forms into your blog posts, as well as sending your first email to your loyal fans.

Thank you so much for spending this time with me!

I hope you enjoyed my blogging tutorial on how to start a WordPress blog on Bluehost.

Remember, if you have any trouble setting up your WordPress blog on Bluehost, or simply have any questions in general, please contact me here or leave a comment below.  I’ll be delighted to help.

Enjoy your new blog and well done!

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